And automatically



(No Model.)

H. MOQUIRE. ELEVATORFOR HOISTING AND LOWERING AND AUTOMATICALLY DISGHARGING BARRELS, &0.

No. 311,773. Patented Feb. 3,1885.

, H A li!" Urvrrrs *rarns Parent tries,

HENRY MCQUIRE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE LINK IBELT MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELEVATOR FOR HOISTING AND LOWERING AND AUTOMATICALLY DISCHARGING BARRELS, dc.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,773,6ated February 3, 1885.

Appication filed December 18, 1854.

I0 all warn/t it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY MoQUIRn, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators for Hoisting and Lowering and Automatically Discharging Barrels and other Packages; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompr-inying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to that kind of elevator apparatus or contrivance which is designed and used specially for conveying up and down in warehouses and other places barrels, bags, and analogous freight which it may be desired to discharge from the elevator at different floors or points, in either carrying the goods upward or downward, and has for its main end and object to provide for use an elevator contrivance adapted for such uses, so constructed that the barrels, bags, or other packages loaded onto the elevator (either by hand or automatically from the conveyor) may be automatically discharged at any desired elevation.

To this main end and object my invention may be said to consist in the use and combination, with suitable endless chains, of suitable packagesupporting arms or devices, mechanism for holding said arms in the proper condition to support the freight, and for also permitting them to change their position in order to automatically discharge the load, and a tripping device or means for automatically operating the package supporting arms, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be more specifically set forth in the claims of this application.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe the same, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiica tion, and in which I have illustrated my invention carried out in that form in which I have so far successfully practiced it. n

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of so much of an elevator apparatus as it is necessary to'show for the purpose of illus- (No model.)

trating my invention. Fig. 2 is a partial side view or elevation of the same apparatus, but showing the package-supporting arms as pass ing over the upper wheelof the conveyer, and with the chain supposed to be running in the opposite direction from that assumed in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing in vertical section and top view one of the arms, 0 and D, detached from the machine and illustrating in dotted lines the actions and movements of the dumping-arms M.

In the different figures the same parts, whenever they appear in both places,will be found indicated by the same letters of reference.

A and B represent two endless drive-chains of equal length, which pass over a drum or pair of chain-wheels at both upper and lower extremities of the elevator apparatus in a man ner Well known to those skilled in the art, and pivoted to the two links a and b of said chains are two barrel or package supporting arms, 0 and D, which project outwardly from the two runs of chain at about right angles, or so as to constitute, as it were, bracket-like supporting-arms. These arms 0 and D, which are, as shown, made alike and arranged in the same plane, are supported by duplicate bracketarms E and F, the lower ends of which are pivoted, as shown atfg, to two links of the chains, and are connected together by a horizontal cross-bar, 0, located a short distance below their upper ends, all as clearly illustrated. Preferably the pivoting of the lower end of these bracketarms at f and g is effected by a single rung or bar, 9, that extends from one chain to the other, and to the set of links immediately above the two to which are piv oted the lower ends of said bracket-arms is pivoted, by another cross-rod, h, a pair of angle trip-levers, I J, each of which is slotted at its outer upwardly-bent portion, so as to be, as it were, yoked around about the crossbar c of the arms E and F, as shown at in m. The inner upwardly-bent ends or portions of the trip-levers I J are formed or provided, as seen at Z Z, with foot-like extensions, which are adapted to strike against fixed but adjustable stops secured to any suitable stationary por tion of the elevator apparatus.

To the same set of links to which are pivoted the two trip-arms I J are also pivoted (preferably at the same points) the lower ends of two arms, 0 O, the upper ends of which extend slightly up within the longitudinally slotted-out arms 0 and D, as plainly indicated in dotted lines at Fig. 1. Each one of the bracket-like arms or supporters E and F is formed, as shown, with a shoulder at p p, and the thickness of said shoulder is slightly less than the width of the slot or vertical opening in each one of the arms G and D, through which the upper ends of said arms E and F play, as and for a purpose to be presently explained; and the upper portions of the springarms 0 O are in like manner of a thickness such as to pass easily through the slots in said arms 0 and D.

M M are discharging bars or elevators arranged'in the form of curved arms within the upper slotted-out portions of the arms 0 and D, and. pivoted, respectively, to the latter at the points i. The office of these arms M M is to throw up the rearmost portion of any barrel, box, or other package placed upon the arms 0 and D whenever it may be desired to automatically discharge said package from said arms, and they are suddenly and automatically and simultaneously raised at their inner free ends by the action of the upper ends of the supporting-arms E and F at such times as the outer ends of the arms 0 and D are allowed to drop down by the action of the tripping mechanism, as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

1n the operation of the contrivance so far described as to its construction, the supporting-arms O and D being set in the condition or position represented at Fig. 1, and the chains A and B being set in motion to travel, as indicated by the arrow in said figure, a barrel, bag, or other package laid across on I top of the arms 0 and D (either by hand or automatically from a conveyer) will be carried upward to any desired elevation within the range or scope of the elevator, according to the locality at which may be set the rigid but adjustable stops or striker-plates, as shown in the drawings, against which the portions Z lot the tripping-arms I J are designed to strike during their ascent. As the arms 0 and D receive and ascend with their load they are securely supported, in the condition represented at Fig. 1, by the bracket-arms E and F, the upper ends of which latter, passing slightly upward within the slotted-out portions of the arms 0 and D, abut or bear against the shoulder-like portions 8 of the arms 0 and D. (See Fig. 3.) WVhenever the arms 0 and D shall have arrived at the point or elevation at which, according to the location of the stops or striker-plates, the tripping mechanism is to be operated and the load discharged, the portions ZZofthe arms I J come into contact with the trip-stops, whereby the arms IJ are rocked on their pivot or shaft h, (as indicated by the arrows near the upper ends of said arms,) so

them, immediately drop downwardly at their outer ends until they rest upon the shoulder 19 of the arms E and F in such an inclined position as to induce or permit the easy discharge from their top surfaces of the barrel, bag, or other package; but to facilitate and insure the discharge of such package at the moment the outer ends of the arms 0 and D drop down the under surfaces of the dumpingarms M, resting upon the upper ends of the arms E and F, (which have now assumed the position indicated by dotted lines at Fig. 3,) are brought into the relative position to the arms Gand D represented at Fig. 3, which change of relationship between the arms 0 and D and M M operates to produce the effect of lifting the inner portion of thebarrel or other package, and facilitating or expediting its sudden discharge from the elevator. As the arms 0 and D, which have thus been relieved of their load, continue in their ascent, and, passing over the topmost pulley of the elevator, begin to descend, they by gravity drop down and reassume the position seen at Fig. 1, being prevented from dropping any farther than this position by the holdback pins or lugs a, (see Fig. 3,) and which project laterally from the upper ends of the arms E and F, and bear against the lateral edges or projections t on the interior of the arms 0 and D, near their bottom portions, the arms E and F meantime'hanging in an inoperative posi tion, except as to their function of preventing the arms 0 and D from dropping down too far, until the attachments begin to travel with the chains beneath the periphery at the lower set of wheels or pulleys, when by gravity the arms E and F drop or move into their original positions or into the relationship with the arms 0 and D shown at Fig. 1, thus leaving all the parts in a reset condition, or ready to receive and carry upward a fresh load. During this operation of the parts the spring-arms O O are inert devices, or, so to speak, dead elements in the organism. They, however, possess an important function, as I will now explain. When the direction of motion of the chains may be reversed, as indicated by the arrow at Fig. 2, for the purpose of using the contrivance for lowering instead of for hoisting the barrel or other package which may be placed at or fed onto the arms 0 and D, the parts in passing over the topmost pulleys or wheels would, without the presence of the devices 0 0, be quite likely, if not certain, to fail in resuming the proper relative positiors which have been changed by a previous tripping of theload-supporting devices in order to discharge their contents, because, in passing upwardly over the pulleys in an unset condition. the upper ends oft-he arms E and F would tend by gravity to remain away from the point at which alone they can operate to support the arms 0 and D, and before they would get in a position where by gravity they would reassume the relationship shown at Fig. 1 the arms 0 and D would by gravity have assumed the relative positions shown at Fig. 3, so that the arms 0 and D would descend in a condition unfit to act as carriers. The spring-arms O 0, however, prevent this by operating to force upwardly and outwardly the free ends of the arms E and F during a travel of the combined parts over the topmost portions of the upper set of chain wheels or pulleys.

As illustrated at Fig. 2, when the three links of each chain to which are pivoted, respectively, the arms 0 and D, the arms 0 0, and the arms E and F, are traveling on the upper portion of the periphery of the chain wheels, the curved or circular line in which the three pivotal points in each chain are caused to lie induces the lifting upwardly of the free ends of the arms E and F, While the action of the arms 0 O is such that when the arms 0 and D shall subsequently pass the point at which they would tend to swing at their outer ends in the directions indicated by the arrow at Fig. 1, the outer ends of the arms E and F will have been broughtimmediately opposite to and so as course any number of sets or groups of de vices, such as shown at Figs. 1 and 2, may be employed on one set or pair of endless chains or carriers, and various changes in the details of construction which would not change the mode ofoperation of the machine may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having n ow so fully explained the construction and operation of my improved elevator mechanism as to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the same, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with suitable load-supporting arms or devices, 0 and D, pivoted to suitable traveling chains or belts, A and B, bracket-like arms E and F, pivoted at their lower ends to the said chains or carriers and engaging at their upper ends, as described, with the arms 0 and D, and a suitable tripping mechanism arranged and operating, as described, to move the upper ends of the arms E and F inwardly and permit the arms 0 and D to drop and discharge their burden, sub: stantially as hereinbefore set forth.

2. In combination with the trippingarms C and D and supporting arms E and F, arranged together and operating substantially as described, the lifter-arms M M, pivoted to the outer ends of G and D and acted upon by the upper ends of the arms E and F, substantially as and for a purpose specified.

3. In combination with the tilting arms 0 and D, pivoted supporting-arms E and F, and a suitable tripping mechanism operating to move the upper ends of E and F toward the lifter chains or belts, arms 0 O, pivoted to the lifter chains or belts and operating, as specified, to effect the enforcement outwardly of the arms E and F, and thus insure the proper resetting of the parts for work whenever the elevator contrivance may be used for-lowering goods, and the chains therefore necessarily run in the direction indicated at Fig. 2 of the drawings.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 2d day of December, 1884:.

HENRY MOQUIRE.

In presence ot' GEO. E. JOHNSON, J r., WILL. P. SIssoN. 

